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The ‘Mother of All Technical Corrections Bills’ Is Coming for the GOP Tax Plan

The various loopholes and accounting maneuvers created by the rushed tax overhaul will make a follow-up bill with technical corrections necessary.

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady confirmed on Monday that Republicans will likely have to work up such a bill.

"There are always technical corrections bills,” Martin Sullivan of Tax Analysts tweeted Monday. “The difference now is that this rushed jumble of new rules will require the mother of all technical corrections bills."

The fixes would require 60 votes to pass the Senate, meaning Republicans will need to round up some Democratic support — and Bloomberg’s Jonathan Bernstein says that might mean that the numerous mistakes and problems in the tax bill “will prove impossible to fix.” Democrats may refuse to play ball in much the same way that Republicans used the filibuster to prevent technical corrections after the Affordable Care Act was passed.

Some Republicans might object to fixes, too, Bernstein suggests: “After all, if tax lawyers find loopholes that taxpayers can exploit, then closing those loopholes might be considered a tax increase. A lot of Republicans might hesitate to vote for that kind of tax increase, even if it just restored the law to what they thought they were passing in the first place.”

Bernstein’s bottom line: “We may be stuck with whatever mess Republicans are making right now for a long time.”